Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi and Queen's Brian May Plan "Riff" Album

Tony Iommi, who is knee-deep into recording Black's Sabbath's new album, 13, is already looking beyond that project to something new — a riff-based album with Queen guitarist Brian May.

The idea behind the album, as reported by RollingStone.com this morning, is that fans would be able "build their own songs" around Iommi's and May's unused material.

May mentioned the project in UK music magazine Kerrang! in a feature where fellow musicians were able to ask the guitarist questions. Iommi's question to May was, "When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together? You know what I'm talking about." May's answer: "Yes, I do know what he's talking about, and I'm very, very keen. The record he's talking about what supposed to be a secret, but I guess he's blown it now."

The idea came to May during a recent visit to Iommi's studio, where the pair discussed the sheer amount of unreleased material the Sabbath guitarist has accumulated over the decades. "I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them," May said. "The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so that people could build their own songs from them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar!"

Beyond that, the details are sketchy. There is no planned release date or label — or even verification that the project will actually take place. Iommi still has to get through the Sabbath sessions. The band's new album, 13, is expected to be released in June.

To watch Black Sabbath in the studio, check out the behind-the-scenes video the band posted earlier this week:

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